Strength in Numbers
by rhymenocerous
Summary: 8x04 D/L Post-Ep: "After their long and stressful day, Danny knew that sharing a simple meal together was as much for Lindsay's peace of mind as it was for his." Rated K .


**A/N: Hey all! Another Post-Episode story for you! **

**I had so many ideas after watching _Officer Involved_ that my head was literally spinning. But try as I might, I couldn't make anything work. It wasn't until I was lying in bed last night that I realized I didn't want to write a _Post_-Episode story… I wanted to write a _Mid_-Episode story. Although I personally enjoyed the episode, I did feel incredibly cheated by the fact that it was missing what I felt was a very important scene – one that those of us who read spoilers were all looking forward to and which was unfortunately cut from the final version of the episode at the last minute.**

**So, I decided to remedy that. It's far from perfect, but I hope it fills the gaping hole that missing scene left in the episode for those of you who were looking forward to it.**

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><p>"Cooper… <em>now<em>."

Danny sighed and nodded in the direction of Cates and Foley who were waiting rather impatiently down at the end of the hall.

"Go ahead," he said to Cooper. "We'll talk later."

Cooper gave him a half-hearted and somewhat apologetic smile before she stood and joined her colleagues. Danny tried not to listen in, but he couldn't help but overhear snippets of their whispered conversation as it drifted down the hallway toward him.

"… we're supposed to stay away from him…"

"Yeah, I know. Alright…" Cooper protested feebly, turning to look at Danny over her shoulder. He quickly averted his gaze, his heart sinking as the small group of people at the end of the hall – people who until this very moment he had counted as friends – walked away to continue their discussion in private.

Closing his eyes, Danny let out a weary sigh. He leaned back against the wall and shook his head sadly, feeling very much alone. How had things gone so very wrong for him so fast? He realized now how foolhardy he'd been, how naïve. He genuinely cared for Cooper, Cates and Foley and had wanted to spend time with them, had looked forward to it, even. He'd wanted to find that sense of belonging he'd been missing in the months since leaving the lab. Only now did he realize that he had been so focused on finding that connection with his new team - on building that bond with them - that he hadn't even stopped to contemplate the possibility that it could be entirely one-sided.

At the sound of approaching footsteps, he looked up, expecting to see Cooper returning to collect the coffee she'd forgotten on the bench where she'd been sitting. To his surprise, it was his wife who was striding purposefully down the hall toward him.

"What are you doing here?" he asked as she dropped down onto the bench beside him.

Lindsay smiled and reached out for his hand. "I got a babysitter," she said. "I'm taking you for dinner. What do you want?"

Smiling fondly at his wife, Danny shifted his grip, interlacing his fingers in with hers. "You know you don't have to worry about me, right?"

Lindsay let out a wry chuckle. "I just want to feed you," she explained simply. "How about Chinese?"

"I told you the interview went fine," Danny assured her, but Lindsay plowed on, completely ignoring his mild protest.

"Personally, I could go for Italian…" She trailed off with a nonchalant shrug of her shoulders.

Lifting his free hand to her face, Danny gently stroked her cheek with the tips of his fingers. "Are you alright?" he asked, his concern for her evident in his voice. Although he had been put through the proverbial wringer at the hands of the formidable Lieutenant Adler today, he could see the strain of the day's events etched clearly on his wife's face.

"I'm fine," she replied, tilting her head and leaning into his caress. "Just hungry. I just… I want to have a normal dinner and spend maybe two hours not anxious about what's going to happen." She opened her eyes, her expression pleading. "So? What do you say?"

After their long and stressful day, Danny knew that sharing a simple meal together was as much for Lindsay's peace of mind as it was for his. Smiling, he nodded his head. "Okay," he said, standing and pulling Lindsay to her feet. "Let's eat."

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><p>Twenty minutes later, Danny held the door open to Rosetti's, letting his wife go in ahead of him before he followed her inside. He had introduced Lindsay to the tiny Italian bistro when she'd first arrived in New York, claiming that aside from his mother, Mama Rosetti made the best cannolis in the city, and the coffee was strong and hot and thick as tar. It had become a regular haunt of theirs and the pair of them had spent many a lunch hour sitting in a small cozy booth in the very back of the dining room, going over cases or unwinding after a long night of overtime. It had come in especially handy when they'd first started dating and had wanted to keep their budding relationship on the down low. It was close enough to work that they could slip away for a decent meal, but far enough away that very few of their coworkers made the same trek, affording them the privacy they craved to show a little more affection than was appropriate under the scrutiny of their colleagues.<p>

It wasn't much, Lindsay mused as she gazed around her surroundings – the ancient cracked linoleum floor and dingy walls probably hadn't been updated since before she had even been born – but it was familiar and quiet and she had the sneaking suspicion that its remoteness and comforting familiarity was what had prompted Danny to suggest this location.

They were greeted warmly by the hostess who recognized them immediately and led them through the dining room to the small booth they had claimed as their own so many years before. There weren't many diners left at this hour of the night, a fact that suited Lindsay just fine. The hostess took their drink orders and handed them a set of menus before retreating back to the front door to await any new customers.

Deciding that choosing her meal could wait, Lindsay set aside her menu and reached across the table for Danny's hand.

"Hey," she said, giving him a small smile. "How's your head?"

Danny let out a weary sigh. "It's fine. Thankfully I've got a thick skull, so…" He trailed off with a shrug of his shoulders. Lindsay wasn't buying it, and she tightened her grip on his hand, squeezing his fingers gently.

"Danny…" she pressed. "Please."

He grimaced and raised his free hand to gently prod at the stitches on the back of his head. "Yeah, it hurts. But it's not so bad," he finally admitted. "I've had worse."

"Did the doctor get out all the glass?"

Danny rolled his eyes. "You were there, Linds. You had a better view of what the doctor was doing than I did."

"I'm sorry, Danny. I just… if he hit you hard enough to knock you out…"

"I'm fine, Lindsay. It's not serious; just a little scratch. And anyway," he said, smiling across the table at Lindsay, "I thought you wanted to forget about all of this for a few hours."

It was Lindsay's turn to sigh. "Yeah, well that's easier said than done." She raised her hand and ran her fingers through her hair agitatedly. "Ever since you called me last night… I feel like I can't switch off. My mind's constantly going, thinking about all the things that could go wrong! I mean, I know you said the interview went alright, but you know how IAB works; they lull you into this false sense of security and then they turn and pounce on you when you're completely unprepared." She glanced at Danny, her eyes swimming with tears of frustration. "I don't want to see that happen to you! You were just trying to have a night out with your new team… you didn't do anything wrong!"

"Hey, it's okay, sweetheart," Danny soothed, reaching out to tenderly wipe away the lone tear that had escaped down her cheek. "Everything is going to be fine, I promise."

"But you can't make that promise, Danny!" Lindsay wailed before lowering her voice, realization dawning that they were in a public restaurant and not in the privacy of their own home. "I mean, we have no idea what's going to happen. What did Adler say to you in the interview? Do you know where he's going with his investigation?"

Lowering his eyes to the tabletop, Danny fidgeted for a moment with his fork. "He, uh… he thinks I overreacted with the guy who was harassing Cooper." He shook his head. "I mean, maybe I was, but… Jesus, Linds! The guy wouldn't leave her alone! I told him to get lost and it was only after he tried to shove me outta the way that I grabbed him and showed him the door. Was that wrong?" His eyes pleaded for some kind of validation for his actions. "Should I have just been satisfied with telling him to shove off, and let him keep bothering her? Or maybe he would have turned his attention to someone else… I just, I don't know! I'm second guessing myself now, Linds. I thought I did the right thing, but Adler…"

"He was probably just trying to get under your skin, Dan," Lindsay assured him, hating to see him doubt himself in that way. "It sounds to me like you gave the guy fair warning before you did anything; you stopped it from escalating in the bar and diffused the situation. There's nothing wrong with that."

"Yeah, well tell that to the broken bottle he tried to embed in my skull," Danny grumbled, scrubbing his hands over his face. "Jesus. And then he starts going on and on about all the crap I did wrong… how I shoulda never had my gun if I was gonna be drinking…"

"Danny, you said you weren't…" Lindsay began to interrupt, but Danny stopped her mid-sentence.

"I _wasn't_ drinking! I just… I started a tab because it was easier than having everybody haul out their wallets every time they wanted a drink. But I swear to God, Linds, I stuck to soft drinks – nothing else."

"Okay. Okay, I believe you," Lindsay assured him, reaching for his hand again and giving it a comforting squeeze. "What else?"

"That's pretty much it. Except…" Danny trailed off, his shoulders slumping slightly. "Except he was pretty clear about the fact that he thinks I've got no business being in charge."

"He _said_ that?" Lindsay asked, incredulous.

Danny nodded his head sadly. "Said I was pretty good at my job when I was back at the lab, but I was in way over my head when it came to being the boss."

"That is such bullshit!" Lindsay exclaimed, her anger at Adler's words boiling up inside of her. "What the hell does he know about you? Aside from this one incident… he doesn't know a thing about how you do your job! From what Mac's told me you're… you're…"

"Babe, calm down," Danny said, nodding his head to indicate the other patrons that were starting to take notice of Lindsay's outburst. "It's fine, okay? I don't care what he thinks."

"Well I do," Lindsay fumed, albeit at a lower volume.

Danny couldn't help but smile at his wife's indignation on his behalf. He'd been in situations like this before, having his motives and actions questioned by the IAB and other higher-ups. He remembered his lament to Flack so many years ago after the Minhaus shooting on the subway platform that he had felt very alone. That there was no one supporting him, no one to have his back. "What a difference a couple of years makes," he mused aloud, more to himself than to Lindsay.

She furrowed her brow and cocked her head questioningly. "What?"

"What? Oh…" Danny smiled sheepishly at his unintentional revelation. "I was just… last time I was in this situation I…" He raised Lindsay's hand and brushed his lips against the backs of her fingers. "… I didn't have you. I felt like my world was crashing down around me and there was nothing I could do to stop it and no one to help me pick myself back up. But with you… I can do this, Linds. Whatever they throw at me, I can handle it. I love you so much, sweetheart. Thank you for… for having my back."

With tears glistening in her eyes, Lindsay smiled at him from across the table. "Your back, your front… I've got it all, baby. Whatever happens, I'm right there with you, Danny. You're not alone this time."

"What did I ever do to deserve you?" Danny asked with an incredulous shake of his head.

"Must have been something in a previous life," Lindsay quipped, dabbing at her eyes with her napkin. "Because God knows, you've been nothing but trouble in this one."

"Shut up," Danny chuckled, pressing another quick kiss to her fingers before releasing her hand and reaching for his menu. "Can we eat now? I'm starving."

He winked playfully at her over the top of his menu and Lindsay rolled her eyes. After placing their orders, as if by some unspoken agreement, they moved on to other topics, keeping their conversation light and just letting themselves relax in one another's company. And for a few hours at least, it felt as though it was business as usual; just another day. They would worry about tomorrow when it arrived, content in the knowledge that whatever the next day brought, they would face it together.

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><p><strong>So there we be. <strong>

**I hope you enjoyed my version of that scene. Don't forget to send your feedback in to CBS – whether it's on Twitter, Facebook or through the CBS website; however you choose – and let them know we need to have more D/L on the show! It's fun to read about them in FanFiction, but we shouldn't have to be doing all the work! Yes, we love the cases, but we come back week after week for the characters and I think that sometimes TPTB tend to forget that, as evidenced by cutting a character driven scene like this so we could have an extra 30 seconds of half-naked girls dancing around in a club… like we haven't seen that a million times before on the show!**

**Okay, so I'll stop ranting now… **

***rhymes hops down off her soapbox***

**As always, your comments and opinions are most welcome. Thanks for reading!**

**PS: For those of you wondering where the heck updates are for _High School Daze_ and _Something Wicked_... well, truthfully I had a new chapter of HSD almost ready to go, but then my computer decided to delete it. I've tried everything and I can't get it back, so I'm starting over, which totally sucks. I don't have a lot of time for writing right now, so losing that chapter was kind of devastating. I'll try to get it re-written and posted ASAP, but you guys will need to be patient a little longer. As for _Something Wicked_... it's coming. I know I keep saying that, but I promise it's true!**


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